Rumour has it he thinks he's like Samson, and is concerned he'll lose his strength. In actual fact, it was the result of a horrible misunderstanding; he misheard when someone likened him to Samsonite, as he's nothing more than baggage for the team to carry.

samsonite, brilliant!
A friend of mine from my school days was up there, she and her hubby had exec VIP box seats, she was excted before the event the status updates made little sense by the end of the evening.
Wales have 3 years to figure out how to beat any of the big southern hem sides, I wouldn't mind us and them going through.The Aussies are not far ahead of us in terms of age and experiance though so their guys will be good for a while too. Isn't it time the NZ captain retired, i'm a bit bored of hearing how brilliant Mccaw is!

You know, it's a shame we don't know anyone who was there on Saturday who could give us a first-hand version of events. I imagine they'd probably still be somewhat hungover.

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Ah well, I am tempted to say that if you were there you shouldnt remember it -- either the game or the celebrations afterwards. But of course you may support NZ -- there is a difference between not remembering and wanting to forget -- or you may have made an error and driven to the ground.

My recollections are first of how cold it was. Farrell did really well to kick his first five penalties. The ball didn't travel well off the ground and there was a strong breeze to make it worse. Then of course there was the girl in a red evening dress who sang the national anthem. She must have been freezing. The haka was one that I hadn't seen before. But you couldn't hear it because of the singing from the England supporters. The atmosphere was good. Not quite as tense as England v Wales last year but not far off. The first half was very close. My overall recollection is of the England back row and the midfield defence covering everything and being everywhere. They had to. NZ just launch attack after attack. They don't try to break you down at once, they just try to move you out of position until they have a numerical advantage which allows them to more or less walk the ball in. Most of the first half, when England recycled the ball at ruck or maul they were outnumbered at once and it just got worse. NZ are so quick and play to such a disciplined game plan. Conrad Smith butchered a good chance for NZ.

Farrell looks like a lad on tv. But he is a big athlete. His defence, with the centres, was instrumental for England. They are like a second back row. Brown is a combative character and when he has the ball he makes the first tackler miss. This got us out of trouble a number of times. It moved the point of attack/defence a little way from what NZ expected and allowed us to relieve the otherwise enormous pressure. Goode is interesting. You can't really see this on tv but he checks his run brilliantly to give himself a split second to move in. Time and again NZ found themselves having to use their second and not first line of defence. All this gave England fractions of seconds more time to play. Some of Farrell's passing is good too. He checks his pass momentarily to give Tuilagi space. But with the exception of the penalties, much of the first half was about surviving. We actually survived very effectively but at half time we couldn't really believe that we were so well ahead.

The second half started so well with a penalty. Then it seemed like disaster when NZ scored twice. But we were all exultant for 20 minutes as England stormed ahead. Tuilagi, put into space by Farrell, made breaks and the England support was exceptional. For the first time we ran the ball where we had parity of numbers -- off a set piece or where we had made them commit defenders to the breakdown -- and the rest is history. Or a bit of a blur depending on what you were drinking. I remember feeling slightly anxious that we might have made too many substitutions but at the end NZ only managed one try and it wasn't as close as it might have been.

Woods, Tom Youngs, Morgan, Launchbury, Cole, Cornbisiero, Parling and Robshaw worked really hard. Tom Youngs gives England good penetration. He breaks tackles and moves the forwards in the right direction. Likewise Morgan, though he needs to be given more space to play in.

Ben Youngs and Ashton look like world beaters waiting for the rest of the team to catch up with them. Their attacking abilites are exceptional. There is just a sense that we may be getting there.

I've been pleased to keep up a reasonable volume over the festive period, though free courts have been on the slim side due to the junior tournaments. The EXO3's will be on their way out; currently hitting with the TGK's whilst I decide whether to stay there or try something else.

As I'm pretty new to gut and given our weather, can you tell me what are the rules re playing in the wet. I'm presuming playing when raining is definitely out. But what if it's just damp out (say it had been raining a few hours before but wasn't actually raining anymore)? And can you play with gut in a small amount of drizzle?

On another matter, as an esteemed UK RH of long-standing haha, why not join the likes of Dave, Rich and myself on the FB group? IIRC you were dead against it and the idea of being on FB previously - which I understand. But you can simply join and do nothing else but post in the UKRHs group, which is a closed group, i.e., no-one but the groups members can have access to you etc. You wouldn't have to have anything to do with the rest of FB appartus, so to speak. There's definitely some good banter (some of it stuff we can't really say on TT). And, most importantly, some pretty good 'action' on the racketaholic front LOL. Anyhow, just thought I'd mention it.

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The problem with gut is not necessarily the weather (though it doesn't help) directly but the ball getting very wet. That is what really gets the moisture on the strings and generally a good bit of grit too. As such it can not actually be raining but be pretty bad. Pacific and Klip (for example) are worse than VS. Overall if it feels wet I tend to avoid playing with gut. I just use a cheap syn for those sessions. With that or if I have a set I know is on the way out I don't care.

For me the FB thing is about the privacy to an extent but its more about the pressure from various quarters to friend certain people and participate in a lot of stuff. I don't have that kind of time and folk get upset. To give you an idea my wife has 54 first cousins. Only the very interested have that kind of time!! I'd never play any tennis!

On another note ill have some frames and some string to go soon if folk are interested. Let me know as I have a lot of mails.

Probably, but it would be good to see one of the other guys to step up and challenge. Delpo or even Tsonga? Personally I'd like to see one of those guys in a semi.

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I've been over in the US so no time to play but at least resting the ankle and picking up cheap gut (!)

It's a real pity the top four are so dominant. I'm really hopeful the weather is super hot and they put the roof down. For me if they do that perhaps Delpo has a chance if he plays some first strike tennis. Long shot but....

Rob think you're missing ross' point....blank page, your name could be bob origmarm, set all privacy listings so only you can see them, join closed club, only we know who you are and we certainly wouldn't want to add you as a friend !!

Not played for a bit with weather and Christmas, not looked at tt for about a couple of months. Happy with one racket ha, I'm cured dyou hear me, cured I say....

Rob think you're missing ross' point....blank page, your name could be bob origmarm, set all privacy listings so only you can see them, join closed club, only we know who you are and we certainly wouldn't want to add you as a friend !!

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that's actually a good idea, i haven't been on here much lately and rarely stray far from this odds page or the results one, fair bot of nonsense about!Yes we can all promise not o b e friends or "like" you! ;-)

Don't think we'll ever be cured Rich. I've been playing 95d's for about 10 months without any compulsions at all.......but.......I now have 2 N95's on the way, and am also tinkering with those Mega-age bats. May be investing in 2 more POG Mids before the week is up, and still have to deal with my lust for Angell/Vantage sticks. And I woke up this morning thinking about PB10's.......:-?

I've been watching the squash this weekend. Nicol David reminds me a lot of Federer: she seems to glide around the court in an absolutely effortless way. And in the men, Shabana is great to watch. Last night he executed a shot that you'd expect of Bahrami - pretended to hit a drive, but deliberately missed the ball and came round again for a drop shot. I played a bit when I was younger, but haven't touched a racquet in over 15 years. I might be getting an itch...

Do any of you guys play? I was searching for a squash forum last night as I'm completely out of touch with the game (even the scoring has changed!), and did find one with some posts from a guy called origmarm...

I might play a little . One of my brothers was a top 20 UK Jnr some years ago. I tend to play in Winter with other slow, old folk. Shabs is great to watch but I love watching Gaultier or Ramy. Mind you Hicham just for the odd Mizuki! http://youtu.be/75RICjtqvkI

Not as in to it as tennis though. Too patterned and attritional for me overall. I did once win 2pts off my bro

Having someone that good in the family is great! Unless he's also the younger, better looking brother...

I watched some of the squash players whilst I waited for my tennis court tonight. The seemed to be pretty competitive: I reckon I'd get a bit of a hiding until I found my feet. I need to decide if I want to return to the bottom of the food chain... and whether it's worth risking my tennis form!

Has anyone has any contact with RAB this year? I placed an order online last week, but haven't had any despatch note. I thought maybe they closed the office over Christmas, so tried calling today - all three times the phone just rang out. Anyone got any ideas what's going on?

- he said they close twice a year, once around Christmas, and again in August.
- the IT guy forgot to put a notice on the website, or an out-of-office on the sales email
- they had a power cut, which meant the answer machine with an out-of-office message stopped picking up calls

His advice to me was 'don't order on the web'. I'll probably heed him on that, but will make sure that I have at least half an hour spare when I place an order as he does like a chat.

He's been playing well, is fresher than anyone, and looks in a good mental place. You'd obviously expect Federer to be a challenge, but I like the fact that meeting is the semi rather than final as it gives a little less pressure.

I hope he's been watching footage of the other matches. Both Federer and Djokovic (assuming he reaches the final) have been pushed very hard by aggressive tennis. If he goes on the attack, he has a very good chance.

I'm interested to see his goals this year. If I've read it right, if Murray wins the AO he will be holder of 2 majors plus the Olympic gold, yet Djokovic will still be #1 even though his biggest title would be the WTF. It highlights just how consistent you need to be throughout the year to get that #1 ranking. Will he chase that this year, or is he more concerned about winning majors?

Nice work Andrew. Haven't been able to see game unfortunately as I'm working but, er... "Well in, son!" ... and so to Sunday we go.

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Andrew? Oh you mean Muzza

His career has really moved on in last couple of years, I was amazed to see his record now at only 25. He has 25 ATP singles titles, including 8 Masters 1000 titles and will have been in 6 Grand Slam finals (don't forget Henman didn't even get in 1). I think he is going to win on Sunday in 4!

Need to go to rehab>>No No - Used my old Fischer Pro No 1 (Red and Black)yesterday, and all that sumptious feel came back. Gulp. :-?

So anyway apart from that the guy I was hitting with suggested that we try the shots from the tennis-speed blog FFM2 a few weeks back and we have been trying to perfect it, with varying results, but mainly very good.

Its hard to incorporate the palm downwards straight arm position in a match, but our ball striking in practice has gone up several notches as has power.

Yesterday we tried the deliberate off centre hitting (bottom of strings) which I was fairly sceptical of. Bare in mind that we were using pretty old babolat gold balls, on a carpet court that just sucks the energy out of your shots, and it was bloody freezing inside Lloyds. The results were spectacular. The ball was hopping around like a mexican jumping bean. we were able to completely mess up each others timing when we got it right.

He was definitely the best player in the first 2 sets, but novak's serve saved him and stopped him from winning that 2nd set.
After that Muzza couldn't keep up with him, and his serve wasn't good enough to keep him in the match unfortunately.

Still there is no doubt that Murray is now 2 in the world, and if he keeps improving and working hard then another GS title this year is a probability (hopefully Wimbledon).

^ I was gutted but TBH not totally. I found what Novak was doing out there just very compelling and of such a high quality. Anyhow, I, too, have high hopes Muzza might get another GS title this year.

Wow, given the number of frames you've hit with/owned, that's some statement. :wink: What's so special about your Angell frame?

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The custom Angell 95 18x20 63RA has the best combination of power, control and arm comfort I've ever used in a modern racket. Normally with modern rackets one of these 3 suffers, but not in this case. I've even used a poly string in it, admittedly only SPPP, and still performs brilliantly without any pain either on my many mis-hits!

Played for the first time in a while today at the Westway. We had an hour indoors and then an hour outside under floodlights on the fake clay. All I can say is that the last hour wasn't tennis. It was cold, with a strong breeze, and we were playing in a sandpit. I quite like red clay but this stuff is nothing like it. Better than no tennis but only just.

The custom Angell 95 18x20 63RA has the best combination of power, control and arm comfort I've ever used in a modern racket. Normally with modern rackets one of these 3 suffers, but not in this case. I've even used a poly string in it, admittedly only SPPP, and still performs brilliantly without any pain either on my many mis-hits!

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Jimbo! How are you?
Nice racquet choice I have a pair but the 16 by 19 string pattern.

Played for the first time in a while today at the Westway. We had an hour indoors and then an hour outside under floodlights on the fake clay. All I can say is that the last hour wasn't tennis. It was cold, with a strong breeze, and we were playing in a sandpit. I quite like red clay but this stuff is nothing like it. Better than no tennis but only just.

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Are the indoor facilities at Westway any good? Decent changing facilities? It's roughly 50 quid for a two hour court booking, which is steep, but it does provide flexibility for occasional users of indoor courts. A pity that a singles court takes up so much space, so is effectively priced at the opportunity cost foregone of a 5-a-side pitch used by 10 people, with the cost spread accordingly.

The changing facilites aren't much good. The indoor courts are good, though the light is a little uneven. There are peak and off peak rates. Getting a court is hard though. There is a list of people, now closed, who are able to block book. The rest of us have to get on the phone pretty regularly. If you drive and park underground there is always a chance that your car will be stolen.